Marcus Jacobson settles into a plush leather rear seat, opens the bar, turns on the video and reaches for one of the onboard computers to report on the latest in only slightly ashamed luxury cars. The 32nd Tokyo Motor Show motto was "One world, one people, one show". But three German manufacturers hardly lived up to that motto, for they were determined to steal the event, using it to launch their respective supercars. Most other manufacturers tried to demonstrate that their cars were really environment friendly — frugal in terms of fuel consumption and endeavouring to minimise CO_2 emissions by having modest-sized power units. But BMW, Mercedes-Benz and VW felt no such restraint. Their motto was "What you can do, we can do better". Admittedly they also exhibited a range of models for potential Japanese customers, but their pride-of-place exhibits were clearly directed at very different individuals — those for whom neither purchase price nor the environment were prime considerations.
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